Name That Drama: Coffee marathons and lie detectors

Ready for another round of drama-sleuthing? Help out your fellow Beanies or use this form to send in your own questions and requests for future Name That Drama installments.

Studies show studying coffee can keep you awake

I was having a hard time remembering this drama I watched several years ago. All I remember was that a female character has just gotten a job in a coffee shop. She’s familiarizing herself with the different kinds of coffee so she tastes them all in order to memorize each one. She couldn’t seem to get herself to sleep sometime later because of all the caffeine she has taken in. hahaahaha.

Suicide squad

This is newer, 2016/2017, and the title of it is on the tip of my tongue, but danged if I can get it out. Basically three young folks are struggling with finding employment. They find themselves on a bridge together, get hospitalized together, go to supper together, then get hired together. They have a kind of jerk boss who’s new to the company, but he seems to have a soft spot for them for all the mistakes he lets them get away with. The main female character thinks she has a terminal illness. At one point, she’s at the hospital for it and she and mean-ish boss have a cute conversation wherein she refers to another supervisor as something like “dog manager,” looks sheepishly at mean-ish boss, who doesn’t correct or scold her, just repeats it with a little smile. There’s a lot of other little stories throughout, but if you’ve seen it, you’ll definitely know what it is from that. You guys, this show was so cute and I cheered so hard for these struggling kids and I would love to revisit it. Please please please put a name to it for me.

Kid exchange

Hello! The little I remember from this drama isn’t alot to go on but it’s something 🙂 Its probably a weekend drama and is about a family who raised a girl that they found and while the father treats her nicely the mother uses her to do all sorts of work. Then her biological family finds her but the mother tells them that her own child is the missing daughter. I remember a scene a little late in the show when the truth came out, the girl refused to go to her biological family because she feels like the adoptive family is her family but the mother is mean to her to try to force her to go. I thought it was My Golden Life but it wasn’t that one so I thought I would try my luck here!

Name that lie detector

My friend asked me about this particular scene in a drama/movie and I’m not sure if I just don’t remember or I haven’t watched it in the first place. In the story, the male lead was a “human lie detector” –he would always able to tell if someone’s lying to him as he could feel it in some ways. This particular scene happened on his wedding day, the male lead and the female lead were about to get married. But the bride suddenly called off the wedding. She told the groom “I don’t love you anymore!!” She was actually lying (being a noble idiot, I guess), but the male lead couldn’t sense anything at all, therefore he was shocked as he thought she was telling the truth. But what actually happened is that he had lost the ability of being a human lie detector, –he could no longer detect lies. I don’t know the reason. My friend also doesn’t remember it. That’s all she’s got!

Now I’ve seen numerous dramas and movies about the characters being able to detect someone’s lying, but I don’t remember this particular scene. Please help my friend (and me) find this drama. Thank you!

A safe VR game

I can’t get this scene out of my head. There’s a very stressed and sad girl so a guy takes her to a VR game room instead of the usual arcade games. They wear a huge VR helmet and they’re trying to cross a narrow beam on top of a very tall building. I can’t recall if he’s the lead or just a friend or a sidekick. It’s not Memories of the Alhambra because the VR game is just harmless fun and not that realistic.

March 3, 2019 at 11:18 PM

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I think the 1st drama is from C-drama, Ode to Joy. One of the female leads started working at a coffee shop and she had to memorize the coffee name by smell and taste. I’m very sure of the 2nd drama, it is from Radiance Office. The 3 suicide midgets are Go Ah Sung, Hoya, and i forgot the other one meanwhile the cute manager who has soft for them is Ha Seok Jin. I will never get it wrong ^^

March 4, 2019 at 1:06 PM

March 4, 2019 at 9:05 PM

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While we are at it, help me to guess this drama. The description is a bit vague but I hope you guys may help me solve this mystery.

It was an old drama that I watch in 2004-2009. I think it is C-drama, but it is absolutely not K-drama. The story is about a school boy that like a same age girl. The girl did well in school so he studied really hard to be at par. The girl didn't know about his feeling and she was in love with another guy. She somehow got her heart broken and cannot do well in exam. The guy switch their exam papers. She got good result, went into good university and they met again as adult. Another clue, the guy lives in the same house with his extended family when he was young.

March 4, 2019 at 4:22 PM

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Twinkle Twinkle was the first one that came to my mind when reading #3. However, when I looked up the synopsis to refresh my memory, it didn't really match. Only that there were babies switched at birth, one of them being poor and one rich.

August 8, 2019 at 8:07 AM

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A tale of two sisters didn't really have any reluctance and the little girl who was lost/abandoned didn't have a mom when we met her. I thought Geum Sa Wol,I didn't get past episode 1 of that show, but I think the synopsis does mention the girls being switched.

March 4, 2019 at 6:10 AM

March 4, 2019 at 6:24 AM

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Number 5 is giving me flashbacks to a... Strawberry cake...? The girl was trying to put strawberries on a cake at the end of a beam on top of a tall building...? This is so weird but I think I am clearly remembering this...

March 4, 2019 at 8:43 AM

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I've seen something similar, but it's not a drama. It's a KBS program promoting Seoul called Seoul In-Stars, hosted by actress Park Eun Hye. In episode 7, she tried a VR game where she was at some very high and had to retrieve donuts at the end of the beam (something like that).

March 4, 2019 at 5:31 PM

March 5, 2019 at 5:31 AM

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I have very recently watched Glass Slippers and it is fairly different. There is a stepfather in the adopted family who lusts after and attacks the lead. It is definitely not a family she would choose to stay with.

March 4, 2019 at 9:45 PM

March 5, 2019 at 2:37 AM

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Yes, you're right Bae Doona played the VR game, walking on a high beam, aiming for what look like a strawberry cake. I've just spent 6 minutes scrolling through episodes and scenes, at it was in Episode 6(on the 16 episode/hourly count), at the 36:00 minute onwards. That scene was after Bae Doona throw away her comic/sketches, and her crush saw her. He then takes her on a bike ride and the VR playroom afterwards to cheer her up.

March 5, 2019 at 3:52 AM

March 6, 2019 at 11:13 PM

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The first time I saw Hwi Ha-joon is in "My Golden Life" where he as a douchebag driver the youngest daughter in the Choi Family. He really had a few episodes, but I can't forget him with the scene where he's covering the lady from the water throwing to her....

March 5, 2019 at 3:00 PM

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I wonder if #3 is Her Legend. I do remember an orphaned girl living with her working class uncle and aunt. The aunt was extremely mean to her (the verbal abuse of the child was very shocking and I have loathed that actress ever since), favoring her own daughter. The rich family came to get her after finding about about her existence. The aunt substituted her own daughter to give her a chance to study overseas. They both end up working in the same purse design company as adults.

March 5, 2019 at 3:25 PM

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#3 could be You're the Best, Lee Soon Shin (w IU as title lead, co-lead Jo Jung-suk!), family drama in 2013. The dynamics are a little different: the adoptive mom was really nice to the daughter until the bio mom showed up; then what you describe fits pretty well.

March 7, 2019 at 8:39 AM

March 9, 2019 at 4:05 AM

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I haven't seen it but based on the synopsis it looks right.

“Can a long-lost daughter find happiness when she is reunited with her parents after 20 years?” In a complicated twist, a young woman from a wealthy family goes missing and is raised by a foster mom instead of her own parents. Meanwhile, her wealthy family adopts a girl to overcome the loss of their daughter. The tensions that arise when the daughter finds her real family results in a journey of understanding and forgiveness.

August 8, 2019 at 8:35 AM

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The mother didn't know that her daughter was replacing Bori until later on. The focus of that show wasn't Bori's legitimacy either. The new mother and daughter were up to a lot of no good together too.

March 15, 2019 at 11:14 AM

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Rare that I get to contribute to NTD, I'm glad!

No 2. it's funny that I have neither watched the drama nor read the recap, but I was immediately convinced drama 2 was Radiant Office

3. Sounds very much like Her Legend. My first Makjang. Ah, good times. I liked it, I remember being very frustrated with the scheming step-mother and the daughter switch. After making the daughter's life miserable. They worked in the same company that made purses